Coronavirus crisis… Young man develops Gaza’s first 3D printed mask

Gaza (QNN- Exclusive)- Muhammad Abu Matar (33 years old) from Gaza holds a filament before connecting it to a 3D printer to produce a mask that is supposed to help medical teams to fight coronavirus.

After connecting the filament to the 3D printer, which he built himself based on a re-set design, the tip of the printer starts moving to print Gaza’s first 3D mask.

As soon as the government started to send all arrivals to quarantine, Muhammad started looking for ways to fight coronavirus, hoping that he could help the Gaza strip, which has been suffering from a severe shortage in medical equipment even during normal conditions and “no one knows what would happen if the virus reaches the strip”, as Muhammad told QNN.

Muhammad added that he found different designs of 3D printers but only one of them got his attention. He thought that Gaza really needs such design during this time, so he and a group of other young people started building the printer inside his startup in western Gaza.

Muhammad started printing a face shield, which is a mask that covers the whole face, “because if things get worse and we start having cases that are not tested, everyone would have to put masks as it protects the whole face from any spray or epidemic.”

“No one would care about Gaza or rescue it. This is why we, Palestinians, should have a sense of responsibility and take the initiative to protect our country”, Muhammad said.

Muhammad added that he was faced with many problems, including the lack of material in Gaza. He found out that filaments are not available in the strip, which pushed him to build a filaments machine.

Muhammad told us that he will start a fundraiser that will help him print more masks and provide them for the citizens for a small price.

The Ministry of Health has announced last Sunday that two coronavirus cases were reported for citizens, who were coming back home from Pakistan. Both patients were immediately put under quarantine and were not allowed to enter the strip.